On the evening of March 15th and the early morning hours of March 16th, 2014, Indiana State Police Indianapolis troopers along with officers from the Hamilton County Traffic Safety Partnership will participate in an enforcement check point targeting impaired drivers in Hamilton County. After the checkpoint, troopers will conduct roving saturation patrols aggressively seeking impaired drivers throughout the Indianapolis District which covers Marion, Johnson, Shelby, Hendricks, Hamilton, Hancock and Boone Counties.

In 2012, Indiana had 158 alcohol-impaired driving fatalities (a 12.9 percent increase from 140 fatalities in 2011) and 2,112 injuries. Alcohol impaired collisions were 2.7 percent of all Indiana crashes, but accounted for 20.3 percent of Indiana’s 779 traffic fatalities. Of the 540 drivers killed in collisions in 2012, about one in four (24.4 percent) died in a collision involving at least one alcohol-impaired driver. More than two-thirds of the drivers killed in 2012 were tested for alcohol (and/or drugs), and among those for whom results were reported, 37.1 percent were legally impaired.

“The purpose of enforcement checkpoints is to remove impaired drivers from Indiana roadways” stated Indiana State Police District Commander Lt. Jeff Payne. “Checkpoints also educate the motoring public of the ongoing efforts by the Indiana State Police to reduce the number of impaired driving crashes and deter anyone from driving while intoxicated.”

Reminders so motorists do not find themselves “Over the Limit and Under Arrest”: